5 Types of Impact Assessments to Help You Understand Climate Risk:
1) ENVIRONMENTAL:
Emissions Auditing
Pollution
Energy Efficiency
Physical Wastes
Water & Effluents
Biodiversity
2) SOCIAL:
Equal Opportunity
Policy
Incentives
Training
Human Rights
Communications
3) ECONOMIC:
Climate Risk (cost of Mitigation & Adaptation)
Employee Compensation
Local Community Impacts
Legal & Governance
Indirect Economic Effects
4) SCENARIO ANALYSIS:
The process of evaluating possible events that could take place in the future and predicting the various feasible outcomes.
QUALITATIVE REVIEW: describes the potential scenarios that might be encountered and therefore integrate risk assessment.
QUANTITATIVE REVIEW: estimates the expected value or impact of the event based on projections of current metrics and targets.
Risks might be:
Environmental: affect local conditions (i.e. risk to biodiversity).
Operational: result in an inability to operate.
Reputational: change the way the brand is perceived.
Economic: affect corporate revenues.
Competitive: leverage an advantage in sales.
Regulatory: require enhanced tracking.
Impacts might be:
Material or Immaterial
Positive or Negative
Short term or Long term
Intended or Unintended
Actual or Potential
Direct or Indirect
5) LIFECYCLE ANALYSIS:
Every product has varying impacts and risks depending upon where it exists within it’s lifecycle.
Responsible companies are taking ownership of all aspects of their product lifecycle — from cradle to grave:
Infrastructure
Raw Material Procurement
Product Testing
Manufacturing
Storage
Customer Service
Distribution
Product Usage
Physical Wastes
Recycling & Reuse
